Chelsea manager Graham Potter reveals Kalidou Koulibaly missed the United game due to knee issue
Speaking to the media after the game (h/t Football.London), Chelsea manager Graham Potter revealed that defender Kalidou Koulibaly had a knee issue which kept him out of the match against Manchester United.
Potter further confirmed that the Senegal international picked up that injury against Brentford. Although it doesn’t seem like a serious setback, Saturday came too soon for him.
Chelsea played out a well-fought 1-1 draw, with a late equaliser from Casemiro damping the spirits just a little bit. The Blues started with a back-three of Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva and Marc Cucurella. The latter was subbed off for Mateo Kovacic in the first half as the manager wanted more bodies in midfield.
They were seconds away from keeping a clean sheet without Koulibaly. Here’s what Potter said regarding the defender’s unavailability (h/t Football.London):
“He just felt his knee at the back end of the game against Brentford. It’s not too bad but it’s too soon for him to play in this game.
“We lost Koulibaly, so we can’t play him, and then we’ve got a couple of players returning who recovered against Brentford. Thiago couldn’t play in the week.”
Despite the concession of the late equaliser, Potter’s unbeaten start to his Chelsea reign continues. It is now eight games without defeat for the Blues. With Arsenal dropped points, they remain seven points off the top.
The hope would be that the injury to Koulibaly does not become a serious one. Games are coming thick and fast till the World Cup, with another one against RB Salzburg in the Champions League away in Austria coming on Tuesday evening.
Though the back line is doing a great job with or without Koulibaly, the front line needs to produce more goals. They have scored eight goals in the last five games, with only one coming in the last two games.
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One complaint during the Thomas Tuchel reign was on similar lines that although Chelsea are tough to score against, they do not score a lot themselves. Potter would hope his strike force, led by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, pick up form soon. The absence of their chief creator Reece James is a blow to be fair to them.